Fake Online Beauty Promoter Bags Ten Years Jail Terms Over N740,000 Fraud 

Ayuba Sanusi 

JUSTICE A. A. Isiaka of a Kaduna State High Court has convicted and sentenced a fake beauty promoter, Ogunleye Samson Oluwasola to ten years imprisonment for cheating and obtaining by false pretence.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to a one-count charge bordering on cheating and obtaining by false pretence, preferred against him by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

•Ogunleye Samson Oluwasola

The lone count charge reads: “That you Ogunleye Samson Oluwasola sometime in March 2023 in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently induced one Solomon Suzie to deliver to you the sum of Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N740, 000.00) for an online photo contest, a pretence which you knew to be false and you thereby committed the offence of cheating contrary to Section 306(a) and punishable under Section 307 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State, 2017.”

He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him. Based on his plea, prosecution counsel, M. Lawal prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.

Justice Isiaka thereafter sentenced and convicted Samson to 10 years imprisonment. He also forfeited two iPhones, a Mercedes Benz E350, and a 2011 model, Toyota Camry 2011 XLE to the federal government. He has also restituted the sum of Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N740,000.00) only to the victim.

Oluwasola’s journey to correctional facility began when a petitioner, Solomon Suzzie, petitioned the EFCC alleging that she came across a beauty contest post on WhatsApp and indicated interest.  She joined the group and participated after which she was selected as one of the contestants.

She constantly made payments for votes amounting to Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N740,000.00) to an account provided by the group admin with no winner announced. When she was asked to pay more money she sensed foul play and thereafter petitioned the EFCC.  Investigation further revealed that the entire scheme, tagged “Online Photo Contest,” was designed by the convict, the sole proprietor in 2020, to defraud unsuspecting members of the public of their money.

Eighteen-Eleven Media